Power & Connectivity (SIM)

Albania uses 230V / 50Hz with Type C and Type F sockets (European two round pins). Bring a Type C/F adapter; travellers from 100–120V countries need a converter for devices that are not dual-voltage.

The main operators are Vodafone Albania, ONE (formerly Telekom Albania) and Albtelecom (Eagle Mobile), with good 4G in cities and along main roads. Prepaid SIMs are sold at the airport, operator shops and kiosks; bring your passport, as registration is required. Albania is outside the EU, so EU "roam like at home" does not apply here.

International travel eSIMs such as Airalo work well for Albania: buy one online before arrival and install it in minutes, with no physical SIM or shop visit. This is convenient since Albania is outside the EU and roaming from an EU plan can be charged as non-EU roaming.

Wi-Fi is common and generally good in hotels, cafés and restaurants, and is reliable in cities and tourist areas like Tirana, Sarandë and the coast. In remote mountain villages it can be slower or patchy. Use a VPN on public networks for sensitive tasks like banking.

Albania has an open internet with no significant restrictions. All standard apps and services — messaging, social media, maps and streaming — work normally.

Handy apps include WhatsApp and Viber for messaging and calls, Google Maps for navigation, and a translation app for Albanian. Ride-hailing is limited: local taxi apps such as Speed Taxi operate in Tirana, and Bolt has some presence, but coverage is patchy. Cash is still widely used, so carry some lek.

Albania's country code is +355. App-based calls (WhatsApp, Viber and similar) are very common. The general emergency number is 112; you can also reach police on 129, ambulance on 127 and fire on 128. Save numbers in full +355 format so they work from any network.